Housing News Digest
Housing News Digest
The Tenants' Union Housing News Digest compiles our pick of items from all the latest tenancy and housing media, sent once per week, on Thursdays.
Below is the Digest archive from November 2020 onwards. From time to time you will find additional items in the archive that did not make it into the weekly Digest email. Earlier archives are here, where you can also find additional digests by other organisations.
Our main email newsletter, Tenant News is sent once every two months. You can subscribe or update your subscription preferences for any of our email newsletters here.
See notes about the Digest and a list of other contributors here. Many thanks to those contributors for sharing links with us.
We love sharing the news and hope you find it informative! We're very happy to deliver it for free, but if you find it valuable, can you help cover the extra costs incurred by making a donation?
Archive
Regulation of private renting
Department of Levelling Up, Housing & Communities (No paywall)From the United Kingdom ... There are an estimated 4.4 million privately rented households in England. While most tenants have a good experience of renting, those who do not may find it contributes to serious illness, financial issues or homelessness. For example, poor-quality housing can pose serious risks to health and safety through electrical hazards, infestations and damp. Poor conduct by landlords and letting agents, such as overcharging, harassment or illegal eviction, can also affect tenants’ wellbeing. Read the full report ...
# International, Rent, Health, Housing market, Landlords and agents.Homelessness in England 2021: The numbers behind the story
Shelter (No paywall)From the United Kingdom ... Homelessness comes in many varied forms and is extremely difficult to accurately count. With this work we attempt to estimate a snapshot of the number of people homeless on one given night in 2021. The types of homelessness that we count in this work are:
• People who have been accepted as homeless and now live in temporary accommodation arranged by their local council
• People who have been accepted as homeless and now live in temporary accommodation arranged by themselves or are living ‘homeless at home’ – meaning that they are legally homeless because it is not reasonable for them to continue to live in their home, but they are yet to be moved into temporary accommodation
• People who are sleeping on the streets
• Single people who are homeless and living in hostel accommodation, but who are not counted amongst those in the statutory homelessness figures above
• People who are owed a duty under the Children’s Act and are living in temporary accommodation that has been arranged by Social Services
Read the full report.
The Whole Rented Sector
Chartered Institute of Housing Scotland (No paywall)The rented sector houses almost 40 percent of the population of Scotland and the standards set by the Scottish Government with regards to building homes and providing services are some of the most critical components to ensure the housing system can improve the life chances of Scotland’s people and communities. ... The Scottish Government is at the beginning of this process, developing a Whole Rented Sector Strategy, and enacting any changes will take a matter of years, not months. As such, this paper sets out some of the
key differences between the social and private rented sectors and considers how and where the housing sector can move towards the realisation of alignment over time. It considers the whole rented sector across four broad areas and makes recommendations both within and between these elements:
• Housing and home standards
• Tenancy rights
• Customer services and practitioner professionalisation
• Affordability
Read the full report.
Homeless people asked to vacate South Coast caravan park ahead of tourism influx.
Ellouise Bailey Illawarra Mercury (Paywall)A great partnership exists between a number of caravan park owners and the Social Justice Advocates, but the summer holidays bring additional challenges.
https://www.illawarramercury.com.au/story/7548210/homeless-asked…
# NSW, Eviction, Land lease communities, Homelessness, Regional NSW.Developer ordered to fix faults in western Sydney apartment tower
Matt O'Sullivan The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)The developer of a nine-storey apartment building in western Sydney has been stopped from allowing buyers and tenants to move in after serious defects were discovered in the block. The NSW building watchdog has slapped a prohibition order on the 80-unit building on John Street in Lidcombe, which prevents the Burwood developer from gaining an occupation certificate until the regulator is satisfied the defects in balustrade walls have been fixed.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/developer-ordered-to-fix-fau…
# NSW, Housing market, Minimum habitability standards.The jobs-housing mix in SF is a mess
Tim Redmond (No paywall)From San Francisco ... It took the City Planning Department 18 months to produce the report on the city’s jobs-housing fit that the Board of Supes asked for, but it came out a few weeks ago, and it contains no real surprises for people who have been paying attention to the city’s housing crisis. ... The city has failed to produce anywhere near the amount of affordable housing that’s needed for the employment growth over the past decade. As a result, 37,000 low- and moderate-income households left town, and 60,000 high-income people moved in. If you look at how much market-rate housing the city has approved for the future, the city has approved 85 percent more luxury housing that it’s projected to need, but not enough affordable housing to meet the demand. (48hills)
https://48hills.org/2021/12/the-jobs-housing-mix-in-sf-is-a-mess/
# International, Affordable housing, Planning and development, Work, employment.The story behind Far North Queensland's unfinished, derelict buildings
Phil Brandel ABC (No paywall)Far North Queensland can be a tough place to live with cyclones, scorching heat, and rain that is measured in metres. It can be a place of dreams and sometimes nightmares. There are plenty of half-built remains beside highways and main roads across the region to remind people what happens when dreams don't come true. One of those properties is an unfinished castle west of the small Atherton Tableland town of Millaa Millaa.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-12-04/unfinished-derelict-board…
# Australia, Housing market.The surprise suburbs where house prices jumped fastest in 2021
Elizabeth Redman The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)House prices have soared by more than 50 per cent in a handful of standout suburbs this year, new research shows, an extraordinary pace of growth that is unlikely to be repeated. ... A push into suburbia also gathered pace, as workers traded proximity to the CBD for larger houses with home offices further afield. Such a trend saw second and third spots secured by Kurnell near Cronulla in Sydney’s south, and South Turramurra on the upper north shore, up 54.5 per cent and 52.5 per cent respectively. ... House prices jumped in the Illawarra region, with the town of Gerringong up 56.4 per cent to a median value of $1,681,227 in one year.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/the-surprise-suburbs-where-…
# Australia, Housing market.